Wednesday, November 7, 2012

A life in progress, What does that mean?I guess to me it encompasses not only
the day to day process that is my life,and not only the experiences of my past, which are both important in
shaping who I am, But also including the word progress means that I have much
more to explore about myself, and quite frankly, much more to learn in life.

I guess me standing here vulnerable, with all of your eyes
transfixed upon me and the words coming out of my mouth, is some masochistic
way to seek progress in my life.

Now I believe this icebreaker speech is meant to be an
easier speech, because the topic is about me. Which sounds easy enough, but for me, I see
myself as the listener,and not so
much the talker.I would much rather
hear about you, which I have had the privlidge over the last 2 months to hear
some amazing and fascinating things about many of you, than have to talk about
myself.Oh well, I will now do my
best to spin a fascinating tale about who I am, or at least hopefully not put
you to sleep.Slide of sleeping
person.

Let’s start with what I would call my best decision in my
life.My wife and I got married on August 18th,
2001, or just over 11 years.

My wife would be considered a very type A personality and I
a very type B personality.This of
course can create some conflict, though more often than not, it is a nice
balance and we tend to be able to learn from each others strengths.

We also have two wonderful children. Abby 10 years old
born June 19th 2002 and Andy 8 years old born June, 23rd2004.For anyone trying to do the math, Abby came 10 months after
our wedding, 9 months of pregnancy, equals a whole 3-4 weeks to learn how to be
a married couple.Though one of
those weeks was our honeymoon in Hawaii, which was pretty cool.

My children both go to L’etoile du nord French immersion
school and are both becoming very fluent in French.To answer the next question your probably thinking, my
extent of the French language is Oui, Bonjour, and Google Translate.

On this note, my daughter will be going to France in January
on an exchange program, which I am mostly excited about, with the other part
being nerves.

Oh yes, we also have our hamster Pebble Snitch Marek, which
for those Harry Potter fans out there, if she gets out of her cage, she is just
like trying to catch a snitch, though without the flying broomstick.

Well, moving on.My first career that I have had was as a Personal Trainer at Lifetime
fitness in Highland Park St. Paul.I did this for
7 years and loved many aspects of this job.I often get the question of why I left this, which my
typical answer is that it was 100% commission job, and not always conducive to
family life after we had our second child.

After I left training, I spent the next couple of years in
what I would call the “I’m trying to find myself” stage.This consisted of mostly sales or
recruiting jobs, with one time I even tried to become a Farmers insurance
Agent.I think I will call that
the “What was I thinking” moment of my life.

This now takes
me to a couple of moments that have lead me to where I am now professionally at
Capella and in my Academic pursuits.

Those moments include:

Getting laid off from my job

Losing my uncle and my wife’s Grandfather

And Crashing the car which all happened within a couple of
months

Luckily enough I was able to secure a job at the Minnesota
School of business shortly after, though this ended up leading to a much more
depressed version of me.

OK now that I have thoroughly depressed you, there was
another moment when when I was at MN school of business that I was reviewing their MBA program
and I thought, what the heck am I doing.

This is not to
say anything bad about the MBA, which is a fabulous degree, but more about the
fact thatI was trying to live a
life of what I thought I was supposed to be, and not what I really wanted.

So after much soul searching, and Therapy I enrolled here at
Capella, and yes I actually started the degree before I became employed here,
which was in 2009.I enrolled in
the Mental health counseling program here, with a goal to someday become a
therapist with my own private practice.And After about 4 years I am getting close to the end of the
degree.

In preparation to my future endeavors, I currently volunteer
at a crisis hotline where I work with individuals going through different
situations such as suicidal thoughts, abuse, mental illness and many other
situations.I find it very
satisfying being able to take someone from a crisis situation, to being able to help them see the current options that they have.

Quick tibbits about me, I also enjoy Tennis, Basketball,
Reading, working out, spending time with my family.

Last but not least, answering the question about why I
joined toastmaster, which is a valid question for breaking the ice.I could easily say this is for
professional reasons and wanting to better my public speaking skills and communications.Though that would disingenuine and only
a part of what I consider progress.

I love to listen, (Which I state before and is probably good
for a future therapist).I have been fascinated with the courage
and the passion of people sharing a little bit about who they are in their
speeches, Which I believe not only allows me the courage to share a little bit
about myself, but also to be able to further explore the question to myself of
who I am, and continue my life in progress.